Web Site

Hurricane Dean Hits Consejo ShoresAugust 21, 2007

Hurricane Dean 1st Landfall

Packing sustained winds of 165 MPH, Category 5 Hurricane Dean slammed into La Costa Maya near Majahual, Quintana Roo, Mexico
around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007. Landfall was about 30 miles north of Consejo, the northern most settlement in
Belize. Hurricane force winds continued to be felt in Consejo until well after sunup.

Hurricane Dean as seen fromthe Space Shuttle Endeavour.

At Landfall, Dean had a minimum pressure of 905 mb, tying Dean with Camille (1969) and Mitch (1998) for the seventh-lowest
central pressure on record in the Atlantic basin, and the third-lowest landfall pressure, behind only Gilbert (1988)
and the 1935 Labor Day hurricane.

Dean's Effects on Consejo, Corozal and Belize

Thousands of trees were down in Consejo Shores, Mayan Seaside and Wagner's Landing,
but there was no structural damage. A few of the older houses in Consejo Village suffered some moderate damage,
mainly to roofs. Judging from the lack of catastrophic damage, the Consejo area probably saw winds in 90-110 MPH range.
Being on the south side of the circulation, Belize was spared the worst of Dean's furry. There were no deaths or
serious injuries reported in Belize.

It should be pointed out that a huge storm surge like the one that caused so much damage along Mexico's La Costa Maya
is not likely in Consejo due the the topography and expansive area of shallow water between Consejo and the open ocean.

Published reports state that close to 2,000 people have been left homeless in Belize in the aftermath of Dean. Most serious
structural damage was sustained in the villages south of Corozal. In a statement released on Friday, August 24th, 2007,
Prime Minister Said Musa said, “It will cost at least US$10 million to replace or repair the hundreds of
houses that have been completely or partially destroyed or sustained structural damage."

There are reports that in the Corozal District as many as 275 houses were completely destroyed and more then
450 others were severely damaged. According to the one report almost half the housing losses in the Corozal
District were in the Chunox Village, where 115 homes were reported destroyed while 273 were damaged.
The Corozal Free Zone also received major damage. Reports are that 250 buildings
were damaged in the Free Zone, representing an estimated loss of US$2.4 million. The Belize Government's final
damage estimate was about US$100 million.

Most telephone service in Consejo was restored on Friday August 24th. Power was turned on in most of Corozal on
Saturday. The Consejo area is at the end of the Belize power grid so we were the last to be restored. Our power came
back on at 3:30PM Sunday August 26th. Only a few remote homes remained without power in Belize by Monday.

Dean in Mexico:

Lazy Wavesin San Jose/Placer

Lazy Waves - After Dean

You can see more photos of Hurricane Dean's destruction in Mexico
at the costamayalive.com Web site. Unfortunatly
this site is no longer live.
Several Gringo style concrete houses on the beach were completely destroyed by the 15' storm surge. Mexico has a
lot more resources to call upon in this type of emergency. Despite substantially more damage than was sustained in
Belize, the lights in Chetumal were on Thursday night.

Remarkably, the 12 deaths reported in Mexico occurred in the states of Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz, and San Luis Potosi, in association
with Dean’s second (weaker) landfall.
The fact that Dean hit an area with low population probably limited the damage caused by the storm, as less than US$1 billion damage was reported in
Mexico.

Death and Destruction Caused by Dean

Deaths and damage by country

Country

Deaths

Damage (USD)

Belize

0

~$107 million

Dominica

2

~$162 million

Dominican Republic

6

Minimal

Guadeloupe

0

$156 million

Haiti

14

Unknown

Jamaica

3

~$310 million

Martinique

0

$679.7 million

Mexico

12

~$184 million

Nicaragua

1

None

Saint Lucia

1

$6.4 million

Florida (USA)

1

None

Totals:

40

~$1.5 billion

Because of differing sources, totals may not match.

Photos of Consejo Shores

The first two photos are out my back door while the wind was still at storm force. I was surprised to see our
thatched palapa still standing. Walking down Pelican Pathway a little later I was amazed by the lack of real damage. A
lot of trees were blown down, but nothing like the damage165 MPH winds would have caused. We were very lucky!

Homes on Consejo Beach Trail, being on the water and unprotected from the storm's strongest
winds, also had no structural damage. A few sheets of roof tin and some palapa damage was the worst of it, aside from the
loss of so many beautiful mature trees.

Tammy Trail also suffered mostly fallen trees. A couple of the palapas are listing a little, but
there is no substantial damage.

Clean-up of our Pelican Pathway lot began with clearing the driveway so we could get the truck out.
There were 48 trees down on the property. Thursday Paul Garcia and his crew cut up and hauled 12 big truck loads and
several large trailer loads of tree debris from the yard.

The yard looks pretty good after the clean-up effort. There are still about 25 large trees plus the
small fruit trees we planted last winter. Once these remaining trees leaf out, there should again be
plenty of shade and habitat for the birds and other critters that have made Pelican Pathway their home.

AT 8 AM EDT...1200Z...THE GOVERNMENT OF GUATEMALA HAS ISSUED A HURRICANE WATCH FOR THE CARIBBEAN COAST OF GUATEMALA...AND
THE GOVERNMENT OF BELIZE HAS ISSUED A HURRICANE WATCH FOR THE ENTIRE COAST OF BELIZE.

The second Category 5 hurricane of the 2007 season placed the entire cost of Belize under a Hurricane Watch.

Fortunately for Belize, Felix did passed to the south, into Nicaragua, Honduras
and Guatemala. This is the 2nd storm this year to make landfall as a Category 5 Hurricane! The last Category 5
storm to make landfall in Belize was Hurricane Hattie in 1961.